An Arab ambassador called for an instant divorce after discovering his veil-wearing fiancée had a beard and was cross-eyed, it emerged today.

The would-be bride had hidden her face behind a Muslim niqab throughout their short courtship, meaning the diplomat had no idea what she looked like.

But as soon as the marriage was contract was signed in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, he tried to kiss her, before coming face-to-face with her hairy face and strange squint.

‘He was absolutely horrified,’ said a wedding guest.

‘The bride had a nice personality, but there was a good reason why she was hiding her looks behind a veil.

‘A divorce was inevitable, and the groom went straight to court leaving his new bride in floods of tears.’

The unnamed ambassador, who is in his 40s and has worked all over the world, including in Paris, told an Islamic Sharia court that he was tricked into the arranged marriage, Dubai's official government newspaper reported.

He claimed the woman’s parents sent his own mother and and father pictures of her far more attractive sister.

A legal source said: ‘Every time the couple met, the bride would do her best hide her entire face.

‘The woman, who is a physician, was very keen to marry him, as she had had very few suitors, even though she’s well into her 30s.’

Lawyers for the ambassador successfully called for the marriage to be annulled, but his demand for £100,000 to cover the cost of the wedding reception was rejected, following the conclusion of the case on Tuesday.

He had spent the money on food, drink, wedding cars and jewellery.

The ambassador’s legal team also made an application for the woman to be examined for hormonal deficiencies, but when she went to see a doctor nothing out of order was found.